Handoff create

Handoff: Create

The user is usually in the middle of one task and has stumbled onto a second thing worth doing later. This skill captures that second thing into a file so they can keep going on the first task without losing context.

The whole point is to be quick and non-disruptive. Save the handoff, confirm in one or two lines, and let the user return to what they were doing. Do not start solving the parked task — that is what handoff-invoke is for later.

Where the file goes

Handoffs live in a .handoffs/ directory in the root of the current project (the working directory the user is operating in — in practice almost always a project repo). Create the directory if it does not exist.

Files are named handoff-NNNN.md with a zero-padded 4-digit number.

Step 1 — Pick the mode

Two modes, decided from how the user phrased the request:

• relevant (default) — Capture only the slice of the conversation tied to the thing being parked, rewritten as a clean task brief. Use this unless the user clearly asks for the whole conversation.
• full — A verbatim transcript of the last N messages. Use this when the user says things like "save the whole conversation", "dump the last messages", "save the last 20 messages". Default N = 20; honor a different count if the user names one.

If it is genuinely unclear in relevant mode which topic should be parked (the conversation covers several things), ask one short question — e.g. "Which part should I save into the handoff?" — then proceed. Don't over-ask.

Step 2 — Compute the next number

List .handoffs/ to find the highest existing handoff-NNNN number, add 1, and zero-pad to 4 digits. An empty or missing directory starts at handoff-0001.md.

Use mkdir -p .handoffs to create the directory if needed.

If computing via shell in bash: use 10#${n} in arithmetic ($(( 10#${n} + 1 ))) to avoid octal parsing errors on numbers with leading zeros like 08, 09. In zsh and most other environments this is not needed.

Step 3 — Write the file

Always write the file content in English, even if the conversation happened in another language — translate as needed. This keeps handoffs portable and ready to pass to another agent.

Before writing, redact any sensitive information (API keys, tokens, passwords, PII) — replace with a placeholder like [REDACTED] or describe structurally (e.g. "the API key for service X (see .env)").

Use this exact structure:

---
handoff: "0001"
title: <short descriptive title, ~3-8 words>
created: <YYYY-MM-DD>
mode: relevant
status: open
# Note: status is always "open" in a live file.
# A handoff is "closed" by deleting the file with handoff-close — there is no "closed" state.
---

<handoff-summary>
One concise paragraph: what this handoff is about, why it was parked, and what
should happen when someone picks it up. This is the part that gets read by
handoff-list, so make it self-contained and informative.
</handoff-summary>

## Context

Background needed to understand the task — decisions already made, constraints,
relevant file paths, links, and anything discovered in the conversation that
the future reader would otherwise miss.

## Task

The concrete assignment: a clear, actionable description of what needs to be
done when this handoff is resumed. Write it as a brief, not as a vague note.

## Conversation

- In **relevant** mode: the relevant part of the conversation, rewritten as a
  readable brief — key requirements, the user's intent, important quotes. Keep
  it focused; drop everything unrelated to the parked topic.
- In **full** mode: the last N messages verbatim, formatted as a dialogue
  (`**User:**` / `**Assistant:**`), trimming only obvious noise. Redaction
  rules above apply here too.

Set mode: to whichever mode was used. The status field is always open in any live file — closing a handoff means deleting it with handoff-close, not flipping a status value.

Step 4 — Confirm briefly

Tell the user the handoff number, the file path, and a one-line description of what it captured. Then stop — let them get back to their original task. Offer that they can later run handoff-list, handoff-invoke, or handoff-close.

Example confirmation:

Saved as .handoffs/handoff-0003.md — "Add rate limiting to the public API". Picking up where you left off whenever you're ready.